Carson turned 2!

Yep, we officially have a toddler now.

We had quite the week last week so I'm just now getting to sit down and post pictures. My dad flew in on Tuesday, Carl had Wednesday and Thursday off of work and we were doing stuff the whole time. Part of the reason I haven't been online is that I had had headaches for about a week prior to this that were really bothering me. They were really random, but not anything I couldn't handle. Then Friday morning my head started to hurt way worse than it had before. I took my dad to the airport and my mom to get LASIK done. By the time I got home I was SO sick. I ended up deciding it was a bad migraine and it lasted all the way until Sunday. I've never felt a headache like that that I can remember. I could hardly even function for two days, let alone look at a computer screen! I've had one other migraine in my life, but that time I had an aura with it so I knew it was coming and took medicine. My mom has gotten them really regularly for her whole life so I know all the symptoms, but this one was crazy since I'm not used to it.

Anyways, back to the big birthday! Carson got to go out and have fun for the entire day. We took my dad to the auction early that morning so on the way back we decided to let Carson play at McDonald's and eat pancakes. Our McD's is pretty new and has a nice play area and computers etc. He loves going there.

On the way home Carl got an idea and drove over to the CAT dealer by us. It was a tractor mecca for Carson. They had a bunch of the biggest ones right out in front for you to look at and play with. 

We came home and Carson took a big long nap while we waited for Grandpa to come home. When he got up we got him ready and took him out for his big birthday present......a Power Wheels Jeep. Man, was he ever excited! My favorite part of it was actually the night before watching the guys put it together. You'd think it was simple ( well, it was ), but they acted like it was an actual car they were putting together.

Carl was so excited to give it to him that he had the big reveal all planned out. He parked the Mazda out on the street so he could leave the Jeep in the garage. We couldn't open the garage all morning so Carson didn't see it. Carl wanted me to set up the video camera so it would catch Carson's reaction. Unfortunately we didn't anticipate the lighting and we are all totally black in the video! But you can hear Carson squealing and laughing with excitement.

We can't deny that face. Now he officially refers to it as "own Jeep", as in "Carson, do you want to ride your own Jeep?"

 For dinner we went early to a place called White Fence Farm. It is a super old-school farm that has a restaurant with killer fried chicken. We figured it would be good for this occasion since there are farm animals and a big playground. The food turned out to be so good and Carson was able to run around and play for a really long time. He LOVES farm animals!

These two photos make me laugh. In the first one you can see how much Carson hates to have stuff on his hands. He hates to have them dirty or touch anything that he is unfamiliar with, even if it's just water. Then the second photo is when he stood still for just a second for a pose after yelling "chickens!!!" at the roosters.

Personally, my favorite part of our time was watching the three baby goats stand on the enormous pig (that didn't budge once while they were there). All of a sudden you see the adult come and push all of them off. She then proceeded to get up on the pig and lay down herself.

After the animals we played at their playground for quite a while. They had these ride-on tractors built into the ground that Carson fell in love with. He kept going back to them over and over again.

Instead of making a big cake I went simple and made him some Oreo cupcakes. Oreos are his favorite treat so I figured that made sense! I just made chocolate cake and put cream cheese and a mini Oreo in the center. They were pretty yummy, but the Oreo totally melted like when you've had it in milk. Carson loved it! :)

On Thursday it was my mom's 50th birthday! She went and stayed up in Estes Park at the Stanley Hotel and we got her a massage at their spa for her gift. That afternoon we could see a storm moving in and at the same time we started getting tornado warnings on TV. We also heard our new tornado sirens going off which was a little scary since they are both right by our neighborhood. 

At one point I looked outside and saw the sky was really green. I had never heard about green sky being associated with tornadoes until Megan told me she saw it after the Southlands tornado last year. So, like the really smart people we are, we went upstairs to our room to check it out. How creepy is that?!

The sky wasn't swirling at all and the warnings on TV said they were farther east than us at this point. Once the green was gone the rain and hail started so we went out on the porch to watch, again, like very responsible parents. :)  And you can see what a copycat Carson is. He loves to come sit right by you and you can tell he is actually copying however you are sitting.

The other gift he got was an Elmo Live from my mom. He hugs it, kisses it, dances with it, you name it. Sunday morning the boys were playing Wii and I couldn't help but love this picture.

 I realize all my posts are ending up as novels, but what can I do?!?!  I talk a lot and take too many pictures. I have a lot more to post about, but they are just lots of cool new things Carson is doing. Hopefully I'll do that soon.